Detailed Review Summary of Witness Actors: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Witness A young Amish boy witnesses a cop murdered. Another cop is sent to investigate. As he questions the boy he discovers that the killers were 2 corrupt cops. He then realizes they are after him so he hides out with the Amish boy and his mother on their farm. As he continues to hideout he starts to fall in love with the mother. The review of this Movie prepared by Jack Bauer In this wonderfully written drama, Harrison Ford plays John Book. He's a detective who meets an Amish boy called Samuel, who witnesses a murder. John takes Samuel to the police station several times to look at possible criminals. He finally finds the murderer, who happens to be John's old partner. When he finds out about the boy finding the murderer goes after John, who decides to hide with the Amish until the trial. Now he must take their way of life, while fixing his car at the same time. He also becomes attracted to Samuel's mother, Rachel. This film is incredibly scripted, and brilliantly directed by Peter Weir. John Book is probably Harrison Ford's first big role, not counting Han Solo, and Indiana Jones.

The review of this Movie prepared by Estefan Ellison Newly-widowed Rachel Lapp, an Amish woman (McGillis), is traveling in Philadelphia with her 8-year-old son Samuel (Haas), when he accidentally witnesses the murder of an undercover narcotics agent. Samuel identifies a corrupt cop (Glover) as the killer, and wounds Detective Captain John Book (Ford) when he tries to protect the boy. Rachel and Samuel travel back to their farm in Amish country, southwestern Pennsylvania, and Book goes with them to protect the boy until the trial. Rachel's family and neighbors don't take kindly to the stranger, whose presence can only mean trouble, and Book must adjust to the strange lifestyle and the growing romantic tension between himself and Rachel. Eventually, the killers show up at the farm. This 1985 thriller was Australian director Peter Weir's first American film, and features a great story and even better acting. The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus Harrison Ford brings a bit of mayhem to Amish country!

On the lam as corrupt police colleagues are after him, Ford hides out with the Amish--and soon finds he has more than he can bargain for, especially when Kelly McGillis takes a fancy to him. Good look--whether it's accurate or not is something else--at the Amish, too. Peter Wier directed this thriller. The review of this Movie prepared by Bill Hobbs What did you like or hate about this movie: Name: Peter Weir biography and filmography | Peter Weir movies Peter Weir Date of Birth: August 21, 1944 An average but uninterested student, Australian Peter Weir dropped out of university and traveled to Europe. When he returned to Australia he landed a job as a stagehand and managed to work his way into writing, acting and directing. In 1971 he made his feature film directorial/writing debut with Three to Go (writing and directing the “Michael” segment) and Homesdale. He then went to London for six months on a study grant, where he wrote The Cat That Ate Paris, which would go on to become his first internationally distributed picture.

His next film, Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), would not only get international distribution, but worldwide acclaim. Based on a true story, it told of private-school girls who mysteriously disappear in the Australian outback. The Last Wave (1977) starred Richard Chamberlain and was nominated for several Australian Film Institute awards. Weir was asked in 1979 to direct the ABC TV mini-series The Thorn Birds but he turned it down, saying the script was too melodramatic. Gallipoli (1981) starred the hot young Australian actor Mel Gibson , and won seven AFI awards (including Best Director for Weir and Best Actor for Gibson), as well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film. Weir teamed up again with Gibson for The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), which earned 13 AFI nominations, and won an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress ( Linda Hunt , playing a man). Weir went to the States to direct his first American film – the blockbuster Witness (1985), starring Harrison Ford .

The film was nominated for numerous awards around the world, including eight Academy Awards® (among them Weir’s first Oscar® nomation as Best Director), seven BAFTA Awards and six Golden Globes. Weir re-teamed with Harrison Ford for The Mosquito Coast (1986). Dead Poets Society (1989) was a huge success at the box office and earned Weir his second Best Director Oscar® nomination. He earned his third Oscar® nomination, this time for Best Screenplay, for his next film, Green Card (1990), starring Gérard Depardieu . Fearless (1993), starring Jeff Bridges as a man whose life is changed after he survives a plane crash, was considered one of Weir’s best films by some critics, but it didn’t do very well at the box office. However, The Truman Show (1998), starring Jim Carrey , about a man who unknowingly is the star of a reality television show, made over US$125 million domestically, winning an ASCAP Film award as a Top Box Office Film. In addition, Weir received the David Lean Award for Direction at the BAFTA awards and his fourth Academy Award® nomination.

After a break, Weir returned with Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), starring fellow Aussie Russell Crowe . Weir not only directed and produced, but wrote the screenplay based on the novels by Patrick O’Brian. The film was nominated for an astounding 10 awards at the 2004 Academy Awards, including a Best Director nod for Weir. Weir lives in a rustic home overlooking Pitt Water Sound in Australia's Palm Beach north of Sydney and has been married to production designer Wendy Stites since 1966. Filmography: Peter Weir | Biography and Filmography | 1944 Biography Having risen from the Australian film renaissance of the late 1970s to international prominence, writer-director Peter Weir displayed in his films an ability to portray the imminent disruption of the rational world by irrational forces hovering just beyond mundane lives. His reputation as the most stylish of the new Australian directors of that time was built on his charting of that country's landscape and cultural oddities with a sense of wonder.

Weir emerged onto the scene with two wildly divergent films, "The Cars That Ate Paris" (1974) and "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975) that were linked by the common theme of older values butting against newer values. The director soon stepped onto the international stage with two of his best films, "Gallipoli" (1981) and "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1982), both of which starred Mel Gibson. With the attention he received from both films, Weir transitioned to Hollywood filmmaking with "Witness" (1985), arguably one of the best romantic thrillers ever made. After directing that film's star, Harrison Ford, to a career-topping performance in "The Mosquito Coast" (1986), Weir drew from his boarding school days for the compelling, if emotionally manipulative "Dead Poet's Society" (1989). As his reputation for compelling dramatic work grew, Weir made less features over the years, amounting to about two per decade.

He had great critical and financial successes with two later films, "The Truman Show" (1998) and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (2003), which amounted to half his output since the late 1980s. Regardless of his limited contributions, Weir remained one of the most daring directors working in Hollywood. Movie producers, peter weir, peter weir film The Year of Living Dangerously - Director, Writer 1982 Gallipoli - Director, Writer (story) 1981 Black Rain - Director, Writer (screenplay) 1977 Picnic at Hanging Rock - Director 1975 Cars That Eat People - Director, Writer (story) 1974 Homesdale - Director, Writer, Robert 2 1971 Three to Go - Director (segment "Michael"), Writer (segment "Michael") 1971 Biography Early life and career After leaving university in the mid-1960s he joined Sydney television station ATN-7, where he worked as a production assistant on the groundbreaking satirical comedy program The Mavis Bramston Show.

During this period, using station facilities, he made his first two experimental short films, Count Vim's Last Exercise and The Life and Flight of Reverend Buckshotte. Weir then took up a position with the Commonwealth Film Unit (later renamed Film Australia), for whom he made several documentaries, including a short documentary about young people living in the underprivileged outer suburbs of Sydney, and the short rock music film Three Directions In Australian Pop (1970), which featured rare in-concert color footage of three major Australian rock acts of the period, Spectrum, The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band and Wendy Saddington. He also directed one section of the three-part, three-director feature film Three To Go (1970), which won an AFI award. After leaving the CFU, Weir made his first major independent film, the short feature Homesdale (1971), a black comedy which co-starred actress Kate Fitzpatrick and musician and comedian Grahame Bond, who later became famous as the star of The Aunty Jack Show; Weir also played a small role, but this was to be his last significant screen appearance.

Homesdale and Weir's two aforementioned CFU shorts have recently been released on DVD. Weir's first full-length feature film was the underground cult classic, The Cars That Ate Paris (1974). This paved the way for considerable success in Australia and internationally with the atmospheric Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), based on the novel by Joan Lindsay. Widely credited as a pivotal work in the so-called Australian film renaissance of the mid-1970s, the film also helped launched the career of internationally renowned Australian cinematographer Russell Boyd. It was widely acclaimed by critics, many of whom praised it as a welcome antidote to the so-called "shocker film" genre, typified by The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Alvin Purple. His next feature, The Last Wave, which starred American actor Richard Chamberlain, was a pensive, ambivalent film which expanded on the themes of Picnic, exploring the interaction between the native Aboriginal culture and the European. It was only moderately successful at the time, but Weir scored a major hit with his next film Gallipoli (1981), scripted by renowned Australian playwright David Williamson. It is regarded as classic Australian cinema.

Gallipoli was instrumental in making Mel Gibson into a major international film star, but Gibson's co-star Mark Lee, who also received high praise for his role, has made only a handful of film appearances since. The cumulative high point of Peter Weir's early career was the international production The Year of Living Dangerously which united Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver in a story about loyalty, idealism, love and ambition intertwined with political and humanitarian themes in the Indonesia of 1965. The film won Linda Hunt an Oscar for best supporting actress. Filmmaking in the United States Weir's first American film was the highly successful thriller Witness (1985), which was set in an Amish community. It was followed by the darker and less accessible The Mosquito Coast (1986). Both films starred Harrison Ford and provided him with opportunities to avoid being typecast by his previous roles in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, and to play more subtle and substantial roles.

Weir's next two films, Dead Poets Society (1989), starring Robin Williams, and Green Card (1990), starring Gérard Depardieu, were major box-office hits, and they brought Weir significant critical and commercial success; the latter remains a favorite with many comedy lovers. His next film, Fearless, starred Jeff Bridges as a man who believes he has become invincible after surviving a catastrophic air crash. Though well reviewed and featuring a sterling performance by Bridges, its unsettling subject matter and darker tone was less appealing to audiences than his two preceding films. But Weir bounced back in 1998 with the hugely successful The Truman Show, a wry satire on the nascent reality TV trend. It was a box-office smash and won numerous awards and earned three Oscars nominations -- Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris), and Best Director for Weir himself. It also gave its star, comedian Jim Carrey, the chance to prove himself in a serious acting role and he received glowing reviews for his performance.

The Truman Show also includes a small reference back to the very beginning of Weir's directorial career -- Australian actor Terry Camilleri, who starred in Weir's first feature, The Cars That Ate Paris, appears in a cameo role. In 2003 Weir directed the blockbuster movie, Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe; it was successful with mainstream audiences despite its slow pace and focus on period detail and characterization, qualities that are characteristic of Weir's work. Witness DVD with Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas (R) +Movie Reviews Great movie receives much deserved upgraded DVD Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 08/15/2005 (5 out of 5 stars) "Made immediately after "The Year of Living Dangerously", "Witness" continued a winning streak for Australian director Peter Weir. His first "American" movie, "Witness" deals with the conflict between two cultures and, in a sense, two centuries as part of a much more conventional police drama about an Amish boy (Lukas Haas) who witnesses the murder of an undercover police officer in the men's room of a train station.

His mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) is traveling with the boy and both are drawn into the police investigation. What Detective Captain John Book (Harrison Ford) who is investigating the case doesn't realize is that someone is out to kill them both. As a result, Book goes undercover himself taking them back to the Amish community they come from and hiding out with them there until he can resolve who is trying to kill them. Featuring a rich, startling performance from Ford and a powerful turn by Kelly McGillis (who had only appeared on "One Life to Live", a TV movie and the marvelous film "Rueben, Rueben" at that point in her career) "Witness" still manages to amaze with the suspense that Weir generates in the film. His focus on the contrasting cultural values of Book and the Amish community makes the film much more than a conventional "B" movie police crime drama adding depth and nuance to the film. A much needed improvement over the previous edition of "Witness", this collector's edition looks sharp with vivid colors, sharp image quality and very few digital artifacts. Blacks are rock solid throughout.

The original release was a non-anamorphic widescreen image and, as such, this anamorphic presentation is a huge improvement over the previous edition of the movie. The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix sounds solid throughout. The original "Witness" was released bare bones so this new edition is a welcome change. There's a 5 part documentary "Between Two Worlds" which features new interviews with producer Edward S. Feldman, director Peter Weir, actors Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. Feldman discusses how the original script was presented to many directors (including director David Cronenberg "The Fly") and many turned it down. Feldman and his wife happened to see Weir's "The Year of Living Dangerously" and he commented to his wife about how that was "a movie" and how perfect he would be to direct the film. McGillis discusses how lucky she was to work with Ford and Weir on one of her first major movies. Ford focuses on how difficult it can be to work with a Foreign director where English isn't their primary language so they can frequently lose the nuance of the performance.

As Ford points out Weir had the advantage of their common language plus the added advantage of being an outsider culturally giving added perspective to the film. Weir's comments are, not surprisingly, the most valuable as he discusses the challenges of making a film in the United States vs. his home country. He also focuses on how he made substantial changes to the script shifting the point of view from Rachel (McGillis) to Book (Ford) since Book was the outsider in Amish country much like Weir was with the American crew and actors. His perceptive comments are always valuable it's a pity he's not a believer in doing film commentary tracks. He also points out that the sequence in the grain tower was improvised and created by he and Ford a couple of days before shooting as they wanted their "High Noon" like showdown to have something different and unique that might take advantage of the setting. We get one deleted scene that was added to the network broadcast (it isn't integrated here into the feature either). Like "The Truman Show" it's clear why the deleted scene was cut although it wouldn't have damaged the pacing of the film all that much.

Still, the point made in the deleted sequence where Book's nephews show the Amish boy his first video game is charming; thematically it's echoed by other far superior sequences throughout the film. There are also the original TV spots and theatrical teaser and trailer for the movie. "Witness" was a pivotal film for director Weir as it cemented his reputation as a major film director. It also set the stage for his collaboration with Ford on the underrated "The Mosquito Coast" as well as Weir's work with producer Edward Feldman on "The Truman Show" another pivotal film in Weir's career. Although he didn't wriwrite "Witness", Weir brought his experience as a writer/director to the film and kept the original writers on board to retool the script to fit his unique vision. Typically, the film was honored with an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay but Weir was passed over as director (as he continues to be much like Hitchcock and Welles two other giants of the cinema to which Weir can be compared for his unique personal vision). Paramount has done a great job here improving the transfer as well adding much needed extras to this classic contemporary film.

Although 20 years old, "Witness" holds up extremely well today (Weir comments that he thought that it was the one film would be least likely to continue to hold up well and has been pleasantly surprised). Definitely worth an upgrade for fans of this terrific movie!" Harrison Ford shines in a well-crafted film JLind555 | 07/26/2004 (4 out of 5 stars) "'Witness' is probably Harrison Ford's best film, and when it was released it showed him another facet of a gifted actor who until then had been known only to most moviegoers only as Han Solo and Indiana Jones. In 'Witness', Ford is police detective John Book, called to interrogate a terrified little Amish boy named Samuel Lapp, and his young widowed mother. An undercover cop has been killed in the men's room at the railroad station, and Samuel, hiding in a stall, is the only eyewitness. Samuel is unable to identify the perp from the usual log of suspects; but there he is, posted prominently on the precinct bulletin board -- a decorated narcotics agent.

When Book relates his findings to the police captain, he ends up getting shot himself -- seems the captain is in on it as well. With the captain, the narcotics agent, and a third dirty cop gunning for him, Book needs a place to hide, and what better place than the Lapp house deep in Amish country? The contrast between the gritty urban police precinct and the bucolic Amish farm country is one of the best things about the film. Book dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers several inches too short for him, looking like the proverbial fish out of the water, is a sight to behold. All of a sudden he's back in the nineteenth century -- no electricity, no cars, no TV or computers. He might as well be on another planet. And the Amish are as different from him as space aliens; gentle, quiet pacifists, hardworking and industrious, intent on keeping the outside world as far from them as possible. They are neighborly and cooperative; the barn-raising scene is inspiring to watch. We feel sympathy for these quiet, decent people as the outside world keeps encroaching, and see them trying to navigate a horse and buggy on the Interstate.

Book has to try to fit into this world, and he gives it his best shot. He joins in the barn-raising, does odd chores around the farm. But the Amish, while they respect his abilities, hold him at arm's length. For one thing, he's falling in love with the young widow Lapp, whose feeling for him is mutual. For another, his assimilation is only skin-deep; on a trip into town, when a group of local louts start pestering the Amish, Book chips in with a right to the lout's nose that leaves his face a bloody mess. It's going to prove his undoing; back in his precinct, the narcotics agent and the captain have gotten wind of his hideout, and now they come to shut him up once and for all, and silence Samuel as well. In contrast to his one-note performances in the 'Star Wars' films and as Indiana Jones, Ford gives a much more nuanced performance in this film; he's the tough city cop on the one hand and the refugee who doesn't fit on on the other.

Lukas Haas is very effective as the young boy Samuel, all big eyes and ears; and Kelly McGillis is excellent as his mother, torn between her feelings for Book and her ties to her Amish community; faced with the threat of being shunned for the rest of her life and cut off from everyone she knows if she marries him. There are several notable supporting performances as well, especially the late Alexander Godunov as the widow Lapp's admirer whose innate civility prevents him from expressing the resentment he feels at Books presence, and Danny Glover as the murderous narcotics detective. Peter Weir's sensitive direction plays up the contrast between time and place, sustaining the tension throughout the film. 'Witness' is not an action/adventure blockbuster like the movies that made Ford a household name, but it doesn't need pyrotechnics to stand out. It's a well-crafted, well-acted, eminently satisfying movie.

" Linda McDonnell | Brooklyn, U.S.A | 06/22/2002 (5 out of 5 stars) "Although I suppose "Bladerunner" is the movie that showed Harrison Ford could do something outside of "Star Wars", I personally think "Witness" was one of the most important movies of his career, because it's a complete departure from a science fiction storyline, and therefore paved the way for all the Tom Clancy stuff and other movies that featured him as a romantic hero. Here he plays John Book, a police detective who has to interrogate a small Amish boy who is the only witness to a brutal murder in a train terminal washroom. When the boy makes an ID that implicates a respected fellow police detective, Book gets wounded, but realizes that he must get the boy and his widowed mother (Kelly McGillis) back to the Amish country and go underground. Thus, much of the movie concerns itself with the fish out of water experience he has, trying to pass as an Amish man, learning about their life and falling in love with the boy's mother.

This is dangerous territory for her, as her father-in-law warns her that if she steps out of line, she will be shunned by her community. And then of course, the corrupt police have been looking for Book and the boy, remember. Final showdown is about as you would expect it, and glad to have it so. One interesting note is the pretty good performance by Alexander Godonoff, the defected ballet dancer, as a jealous suitor of Kelly McGillis. Too bad he died so young; he might have branched into a whole new career here. I hadn't seen this for many years before finding it among the tapes at a bed and breakfast place last summer. I was pleased to find it as enjoyable today as it was years ago, and my friend who had never seen it was enthralled, as you would be, too." Ford's Best Preformance...A Classic Director Series: Peter Weir | Motion State Review Motion State Review hangmantitan 2 Comments Despite dealing largely with dramatic cinema, Peter Weir had the good fortune of working with two of the most gifted American comedians of this (or any) era.

He drew out a defining performance from the late Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society , casting him as Professor John Keating not for the simple unconventionality of Williams in a “serious” role but more likely because Williams could convey passion in a way most actors of “serious” roles rarely can. Likewise, even though The Truman Show is pretty damn funny at times, Jim Carrey’s career in comedy matters little for his role as Truman Burbank — he’s perfect for it for another reason. I didn’t always think so. On first pass Truman seemed to have more tragedy in him than the actor was able (or willing) to provide, especially considering that Carrey’s Joel Barish from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind fought a similarly paranoid crusade and through it became a beautiful tragic hero for our modern age. In this retrospective light Truman seemed caught in the middle between Carrey the affable goof and Carrey the tragic everyman. hangmantitan Leave a comment The Peter Weir we have today is one that seems to take his time releasing new films. It’s been four years since The Way Back, more than ten since Master and Commander, and nearly twenty since The Truman Show.

Those most recent films of his are pretty great across the board, and perhaps the time and care taken with each is a major reason why. This wasn’t always the case with Weir, though: he released five films in the 1980s alone ( Gallipoli , The Year of Living Dangerously , Witness , The Mosquito Coast , and Dead Poets Society ), all of which were fantastic, and he had a pretty productive early ’90s too. The film that forms the divide between super-productive Weir and less-so Weir seems to be Fearless, a 1993 drama starring Jeff Bridges as a plane crash survivor. For whatever reason, Weir took more time off following Fearless than he had since he first started directing (although one might find it hard to believe it was truly “time off”). From then on, a new Weir film would be all the more cherished for the infrequency now associated with it. hangmantitan 7 Comments This article first appeared as a part of the Brattle Theatre Film Notes commentary series, presented by the Brattle Theatre in Boston, MA, for a double feature of Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting. Slight edits have been made from the original posting.

Robin Williams was an actor who selected his film roles very carefully. Despite his ironclad station as the greatest American comedian of his time, Williams acted in drama nearly as much as he did in comedy. One need only look to the shy Dr. Sayer of Awakenings or to the chilling villains of One Hour Photo or Insomnia to see the acting mastery Williams commanded. On the surface, John Keating of Dead Poets Society and Sean McGuire of Good Will Hunting are two more of these “serious” roles that broke the mold for Williams the comic. There is no doubt that both helped to establish him as a master thespian regardless of genre. He was nominated for Academy Awards for both roles and won Best Supporting Actor for the latter, beating out the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Robert Forster. hangmantitan 2 Comments In many ways our Director Series on Peter Weir can be seen as an excuse to write about The Mosquito Coast, which is the logical culmination of the “early stage” of the director’s career and gateway to those brilliant films that would follow (though calling that Weir’s “later stage” makes it sound like his directing career is a slowly advancing disease).

Coast would follow Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously – two well-received Australian films that helped launch Mel Gibson into superstardom – and Witness , which would prove to be Weir’s first American film. The greatness of Dead Poets Society would follow. It’s The Mosquito Coast, though, that’s arguably the most ambitious of any of these films. And that’s fitting, because although Gibson’s Guy Hamilton and Harrison Ford’s John Book and Robin Williams’s John Keating could conceivably all be described as “ambitious” in one way or another, it’s Ford’s Allie Fox that allows his ambition to get the better of him. Fed up with just about every aspect of America, inventor Fox uproots everything and takes his family deep into the South American jungle. They make a new home – “home” a term used liberally here – on the Mosquito Coast, where Allie’s latest creation provides something magical for the local population: ice. Helen Mirren and River Phoenix appear as Allie’s wife and eldest son, who essentially allow themselves to be dragged into the jungle by this iceman simply because they love him.

hangmantitan 4 Comments Peter Weir’s first American film was the Harrison Ford vehicle Witness, released to commercial and critical acclaim in 1985. The Australian director was originally set to make his stateside debut with The Mosquito Coast , but a last-minute loss of financing would leave time for Weir to make a very different kind of picture first. As a “Harrison Ford movie” — a label which immediately evokes Raiders and Blade Runner — Witness probably falls flat. John Book ain’t an adventurer, an action hero, or a possible cyborg (or is he?) and Witness ain’t a popcorn blockbuster. You can imagine the studio executives wincing as they reluctantly finance something that, frankly, looks excruciatingly boring as an abstract. Man goes to Amish country. Protects small boy. Woohoo. hangmantitan 3 Comments After their 1981 collaboration on Gallipoli , Peter Weir cast the young Mel Gibson again the following year in his feature adaptation of the C.J. Koch novel The Year of Living Dangerously. The film would ultimately end up being one of the first collaborations between an Australian studio and a Hollywood studio, and thus the most ambitious Australian film to date.

Good news for both the director and the actor, then, that the movie ended up being one of the year’s finest achievements. If Gallipoli was the announcement of Weir as a commanding big-budget filmmaker and Mel Gibson as a major star, The Year of Living Dangerously was the solidification of that announcement. The storyline(s) are admittedly numerous, often incomplete, occasionally downright implausible. The historical accuracy isn’t necessarily…accurate. Yet none of that really matters in the grand scheme of Living Dangerously because the characters and the atmospheric beauty of the picture are so absorbingly irresistible, and because the meandering and multifaceted plot is probably actually more true to life. Lives don’t play out in neat one-two-three act scenarios, and the subplots each of us tends to engage in hardly ever come to definitive “ends”. Love comes and goes, things become more important or less, people we thought were one way act another – all of these expressions are at the heart of The Year of Living Dangerously, and the overall impact far outweighs that of a great number of films preaching straightforward plots and historical accuracy only to forget to leave some breathing room for a little passion.

hangmantitan 3 Comments Gallipoli is arguably the feature that catapulted both Mel Gibson and Peter Weir onto the international stage. Though both the actor and the director had found success in the years prior – Weir with The Cars That Ate Paris , Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave and Gibson with Mad Max – their first collaboration would prove to bring out the best in both of them. Gallipoli spawned plenty of war films and series that would attempt to ride that wave of popularity, but to this day it still remains one of the greatest WWI films out there. Gibson stars alongside Mark Lee, the latter of whom actually has the larger role despite Gibson’s mug being the only one plastered across the U.S. marketing materials. Lee is Archy Hamilton, hopeful young sprinter from Western Australia who continually hears of the efforts of the Australian Imperial Force on the peninsula of Gallipoli. He first crosses paths with Gibson’s Frank Dunne during a footrace, after which both men travel together to Perth in order to enlist. Their journey is long and full of joy and laughter, but it eventually takes them to the front lines at Gallipoli.

Here they confront the reality of war, attempting to hold onto whatever remnants of home they can in the face of such horror. To be sure, there are no shortage of “loss of innocence” war films. You could even argue that all war films address this in one way or another, even if it’s tangentially through a supporting character or two as in the likes of The Hurt Locker. Not only does Gallipoli get credit for being a precursor to some of the best WWI films of our era, but it’s also worth paying attention to the structuring of the film as a kind of growing, building framework on which we can hang this theme as the credits roll. First off, the focus is very much on Archy and Frank for the entirety of the movie – we only see the battlefield when they see the battlefield, and any notions we have of the war are stemmed from the opinions of the people they meet and the newspapers they read. In this sense, the war is almost a backdrop for a tale about two friends, and Gibson himself expressed as much in an interview (according to the almighty Wikipedia [so it’s gotta be true!]).

hangmantitan 1 Comment Peter Weir’s directorial debut The Cars That Ate Paris, like a few other movies from the early career of the Australian filmmaker, tends to defy most attempts at classification and at fitting it comfortably into one genre or another. Most slap “horror-comedy”, a broad and unsatisfying label, onto films like this. While it’s certainly funny and creepily disquieting by turns, shoehorning The Cars That Ate Paris into a genre just so we may talk about it as “this kind of film” or “that kind of film” quickly becomes a useless exercise. Set in the fictional hamlet of Paris in rural Australia, the film follows young Arthur after his brother George dies in a car accident just outside the town. The Parisians welcome Arthur and console him, but it soon becomes evident that Paris is no ordinary town. Arthur himself hardly seems to notice any questionable behavior apart from a few odd comings and goings – but we become aware very soon that the town of Paris thrives on car accidents from the dangerous outskirts roads, and that the townsfolk engineer accidents for their own benefit. Silly set-up, no?

What characterizes the tone of The Cars That Ate Paris is just that: a silly, comedic set-up that suddenly takes a darker turn, a bubbly Sunday drive turning instantly into a fiery wreck. While calling the entire thing a “horror-comedy” is too easy, it can be said that the tone of the film hinges on those two genres without ever slipping over into either for too long. The pivoting itself can provide comedy or shock, and Weir and Co. bring us back and forth over the course of the film more times than I care to count. The effect turns the film into a kind of tonal collage that’s tough to pin down at any one point in time. Year 12 English Brigidine Library Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is a Jewish American film director. He has won three Academy Awards (as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award), and ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history, in terms of both critical acclaim and popular success.

First coming to attention directing adventure films, Spielberg is noted in recent years for his willingness to tackle emotionally powerful issues, such as the horrors of the Holocaust in Schindler's List, slavery in Amistad , hardships of war in Saving Private Ryan, and terrorism in Munich. One consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naï¿½ve, sense of wonderment and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook and A.I., and the challenging role of a father-figure; apparent in War of the Worlds. Spielberg is the most financially successful motion picture director of all time. He has directed and/or produced an astounding number of major box office hits, giving him enormous influence in Hollywood . As of 2004, he has been listed in Premiere and other magazines as the most "powerful" and "influential" figure in the motion picture industry. In 2005, Empire magazine created a list of the 50 greatest film directors of all time. Spielberg was number one on the list.

He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards for Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and four of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). He is seen as a figure who has the influence, financial resources, and acceptance of Hollywood studio authorities to make any movie he wants to make, be it a mainstream action-adventure movie (such as Jurassic Park), or a three-hour-long black and white drama about the Holocaust (Schindler's List). In 2001, he was given the honor of Knight Commander of the British Empire before studying art and law at the University of Sydney . His interest in film was sparked by his meeting with fellow students, including Phillip Noyce and the future members of the Sydney filmmaking collective Ubu Films After leaving university in the mid-1960s he joined Sydney television station ATN-7, where he worked as a production assistant and he made his first two experimental short films, Count Vim's Last Exercise and The Life and Flight of Reverend Buckshotte. Weir then took up a position with the Commonwealth Film Unit for whom he made several documentaries.

After leaving the CFU, Weir made his first major independent film, the short feature Homesdale (1971).Weir's first full-length feature film was the underground cult classic, The Cars That Ate Paris (1974). This paved the way for considerable success in Australia and internationally with the atmospheric Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), based on the novel by Joan Lindsay. It was widely acclaimed by critics, many of whom praised it as a welcome antidote to the so-called "ocker film" genre, typified by The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. .Weir scored a major hit with his next film Gallipoli (1981), scripted by renowned Australian playwright David Williamson. It is regarded as classic Australian cinema. The cumulative high point of Peter Weir's early career was the international production The Year of Living Dangerously which united Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver in a story about loyality, idealism, love and ambition intertwined with political and humanitarian themes in the Indonesia of 1965. The film won Linda Hunt an Oscar for best supporting actress. Weir's first American film was the highly successful thriller Witness (1985), which was set in an Amish community.

It was followed by the darker and less accessible The Mosquito Coast (1986). Both films starred Harrison Ford. Both of Weir's next two films, Dead Poets Society (1989), starring Robin Williams, and Green Card (1990), starring Gï¿½rard Depardieu, were major box-office hits, and they brought Weir significant critical and commercial success; the latter remains a favourite with many comedy lovers. His next film, Fearless, starred Jeff Bridges as a man who believes he has become invincible after surviving a catastrophic air crash. Though well reviewed and featuring a sterling performance by Bridges, its unsettling subject matter and darker tone was less appealing to audiences than his two preceding films. But Weir bounced back in 1998 with the hugely successful The Truman Show, a wry satire on the nascent reality TV trend. It was a box-office smash and won numerous awards and earned three Oscars nominations -- Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris), and Best Director for Weir himself. It also gave its star, comedian Jim Carrey, the chance to prove himself in a serious acting role and he received glowing reviews for his performance.

In 2003 Weir directed Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe; it was successful with mainstream audiences despite its slow pace and focus on period detail and characterization, qualities that are characteristic of Weir's work. Ang Lee Many of his films have focused on the interactions between modernity and tradition. His films have also tended to have a light-hearted comic tone which marks a break from the tragic historical realism which characterized Taiwanese filmmaking after the end of the martial law period in 1987. Lee's films also tend to draw on deep secrets and internal torment that come to the surface, such as in the gay-themed films The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Brokeback Mountain (2005), the martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, and the comic book adaptation Hulk (2003). The director's cut of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon premiered on the Ivy League campus of Dartmouth in 2000.

He received the Dartmouth Film Award in 2001, along with Meryl Streep Lee's film Brokeback Mountain (2005) won the Golden Lion (best film) award at the Venice International Film Festival and was named 2005's best film by the Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and London film critics. It also won best picture at the 2005 Broadcast Film Critics Association, Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America (Adapted Screenplay), Producers Guild of America and the Independent Spririt Awards as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture ï¿½ Drama, with Lee winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Brokeback also won Best Film and Best Director at the 2006 British Academy Awards (BAFTA). In January 2006, Brokeback scored a leading eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, which Lee won. He is the first Asian director to do so. The film, however, was upset by Crash for the Best Picture Oscar.

This award-winning Australian director first garnered attention with her debut feature, "My Brilliant Career" (1979), ï¿½about a female writer who chooses her career over marriage. At the film's release, Gillian Armstrong held the ï¿½distinction of being the first woman to helm a feature-length movie in her homeland in almost fifty years. ï¿½Coupled with the themes of "My Brilliant Career", that fact threatened to pigeonhole her as a "feminist" director, something Armstrong vehemently fought. Born in Melbourne , Armstrongï¿½ first stepped behind the camera as producer-writer-director on the eight-minute short "Roof Needs Mowing" in 1971.

ï¿½In 1975, Armstrong made the first of three films, made over a 13-year period, ï¿½that scrutinized the lives of three working-class Australian girls as they matured ï¿½from teenagers to young women: "Smoke and Lollies" (1975), "Fourteen's Good, Eighteen's Better" (1980) ï¿½and "Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces" (1988). The director was able to document the lives of these women with precision and care, ï¿½allowing each to emerge as a personality. Armstrong later assembled the footage into the award-winning feature-length documentary "Not Fourteen Again" (1996). ï¿½It is her eye for detail that has enhanced the various fictional films Armstrong has directed. Alternating between period pieces and edgy modern works, ï¿½she fashions stories built around strong, independent-minded women, beginning with "My Brilliant Career", which earned seven Australian Film Institute Awards ï¿½including Best Picture and Best Director.

"Starstruck" (1982) was a musical that followed a barmaid who dreamed of being a punk singer. Armstrong's first American film, ï¿½the underrated "Mrs. Soffel" (1984), told the based-on-fact tale of a warden's wife who leaves her family to run off with an escaped prisoner at the turn-of-the-century. Returning to Australia, she reunited with her "Brilliant Career" star Judy Davis on "High Tide" (1987), a character study of a chance encounter between ï¿½a rootless singer and the daughter she gave up for adoption. "The Last Days of Chez Nous" (1992) examined the relationship between sisters and the effect one has on the other's family. The remake of the classic "Little Women" (1994) proved a natural for the director.

Armstrong's version of the Louisa May Alcott novel ï¿½presented a wider social and cultural context than earlier versions, borrowing details from the Alcott's personal life to flesh out ï¿½the subtexts of class and gender in 19th Century New England that were only alluded to in the book. "Oscar and Lucinda" (1997) ï¿½examined similar issues with the timeframe moved forward a few decades and the location shifted to England Australia . ï¿½A brilliantly realized adaptation of Peter Carey's award-winning novel, the film focuses on two eccentric dreamers ï¿½who share a penchant for gambling. Like all of her work, the characterizations of the central figures were sharply drawn but with "Oscar and Lucinda", ï¿½Armstrong demonstrated her gift for narrative. Told in flashback, it is a love story between an English clergyman (Ralph Fiennes) and a headstrong Australian heiress (Cate Blanchett) ï¿½and Armstrong guides the audience through their heartbreaking relationship, including a stunning set piece that depicts of the transportation of a glass church to a remote area of Australia .

Maintaining her concern for native issues in her homeland, Armstrong has focused her cinematic attention on local artisans, ï¿½displaying her wide-ranging interests and abilities in several documentaries made for the Craft Council of Australia

Question: Which very successful Australian Director's first American film was 'Witness' in 1985, starring Harrison Ford?
Answer: PETER WEIR